News and Notes
- W&M and Wake Forest will meet for the first time since
2009, when the Tribe downed the eventual NCAA Tournament bound Demon Deacons,
78-68, in Winston-Salem, N.C.
- The Tribe owns five ACC road wins since the league was
founded in 1953. In 2009-10, the College became the first CAA team with two ACC
road wins in the same season, tallying wins at Wake Forest and Maryland.
- According to KenPom.com as of Nov. 21, the Tribe ranks
eighth nationally in free throw rate. The College is averaging 27.8 free throw
per game through four games this season.
- The College leads the CAA in scoring (70.5) and field goal
percentage (48.7). W&M has three players -
Marcus Thornton (2nd - 17.8),
Brandon Britt (4th - 17.0) and
Tim Rusthoven (10th - 15.3) - among the top 10
in the CAA in scoring.
- The Tribe's game at Wake Forest will be the third of 12
televised contests for this season, including the second of three that will be
on ESPN3.
Scouting Wake Forest
Wake Forest enters the post-Thanksgiving match-up with the
Tribe at 2-2, following a 1-2 performance at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas,
U.S. Virgin Islands. After narrowly falling to No. 23-ranked Connecticut,
77-71, the Demon Deacons fell to Iona, 94-68. In the seventh-place game, Wake
upended Mercer, 74-71. The Deacs won their season-opener at home against
Radford, 79-67, on Nov. 9.
In its last contest against Mercer, Wake Forest trailed by
as many as 11 points in the second half, before rallying for the three-point
victory. Travis McKie led the Deacs with 23 points and 15 rebounds, while C.J.
Harris added 15 points.
McKie and Harris are Wake Forest's top scorers on the season
at better than 15 points per contest. McKie nearly averages a double-double at
15.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 45.9 percent from the
field and 81.8 percent from the free throw line. Harris chips in 15.3 points
per game, shooting 60 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from 3-point
range. Codi Miller-McIntyre adds 9.3 points per game and a team-best three
assists per contest. As a team, Wake Forest averages 73 points per game, while
allowing 77.2 per contest. The Demon Deacons are shooting 47.3 percent from the
field and 39.6 percent from 3-point range, but just 63.6 percent from the free
throw line to go with 18 turnovers per game. Wake Forest is outrebounding its
opponents by two per game and averaging 33.8 boards per contest.
Wake Forest leads the all-time series at 33-12, including a
13-3 mark in Winston-Salem. W&M, though, claimed a 78-68 victory in the
last meeting between the two teams in 2009-10.
Last Time Against
Wake Forest
In a victory that jump-started W&M's run to 22 wins and
the program's second National Invitational Tournament appearance in 2009-10,
the Tribe led by as many as 14 points in pulling away from eventual NCAA
Tournament participant Wake Forest, 78-68, on Nov. 28, 2009. W&M became the
first Wake Forest opponent ever to win at Joel Coliseum during the month of
November, while also becoming the first unranked, non-BCS opponent to win at
the facility. The Tribe shot 44 percent from the floor and was 27-of-35 from
the free throw line (77.1 percent), while limiting Wake Forest to 35.1 percent.
W&M received a double-double performance from David Schneider (16 points,
10 rebounds) to go with 16 points from Danny Sumner and
Quinn McDowell's 14
points. Current Tribe players senior
Matt Rum and redshirt junior
Kyle Gaillard
both saw extended minutes against the Demon Deacons. Gaillard scored four
points with three rebounds in 17 minutes of action, while Rum was a perfect
4-of-4 from the free throw line in 23 minutes.
Success Against the
ACC
In three of the last four seasons, W&M has traveled to
an ACC opponent when it treks to Wake Forest on Friday. The Tribe played a trio
of ACC foes in 2009-10, before facing two in 2010-11. During the 2009-10
season, the Tribe tallied a pair of ACC road wins at Wake Forest and Maryland,
becoming the first Colonial Athletic Association team since the league was
established in 1985 to win two games on the road at Atlantic Coast Conference
foes in a single year. Overall, the Tribe became just the sixth non-BCS teams
since the establishment of the ACC in 1953 to win two road games against the
league in a season. The wins at Wake Forest and Maryland in 2009-10 were the
fourth and fifth ACC road wins in W&M history.
Best Start in 20
Years
With its road victory at High Point, W&M opened the year
at 3-0, marking the best start for the Green and Gold since 1992-93 campaign.
In total, it was the 23rd time in the 108-year history of Tribe basketball that
the program started 3-0 in a season and just the third time in the last 30
years.
Three-Headed Scoring
Monster
The Tribe's top three returning scorers, sophomore
Marcus Thornton and juniors
Brandon Britt and
Tim Rusthoven, have upped their
production in the early going of the 2012-13 campaign. The trio is averaging a
combined 50.1 of the W&M's 70.5 points per game (70.9 percent). On the
year, all three rank among the top 10 in the CAA with Thornton leading the way
in second at 17.8 points per game, while Britt ranks fourth with an average of
17.0. Rusthoven rounds out the group at 15.3 points per game, which ranks 10th
in the CAA. In each of the Tribe's first
three games, one of the trio led W&M in scoring with better than 20 points.
Thornton topped the Green and Gold against Hampton with 24 points, before Britt
led the team with 21 points at Liberty. In the 83-61 win at High Point,
Rusthoven scored a team-high 23 points, while Thornton added 21 points.
Getting to the Line
The Tribe has done a great job of getting to the free throw
line this season. Through its opening four games, the Green and Gold is
averaging 18.8 made free throws on 27.8 attempts per game. According to
KenPom.com, as of Nov. 20, the Tribe ranks third nationally in free throw rate
at 58.7 percent, which figures the rate based on free throw attempts per field
goal attempts. During head coach
Tony Shaver's 10 seasons, W&M is 46-18
(.719) when attempting 25 or more free throws in a game and 23-9 (.719) when
taking 30 or more. Over the last seven seasons, the College has posted a 56-22
(.718) mark when connecting on 15 or more free throws. The Tribe's record jumps
to 23-6 (.793) over the last seven seasons when hitting on 20-plus free throws.
W&M has made at least 15 free throws and shot more than 26 in all three of
its victories this season.
Offensive
Effectiveness
The Tribe is operating at a high-level offensively through
the early part of 2012-13. W&M leads the CAA at 70.5 points per game and
field goal percentage (48.7 percent), while leading the league in assists per
game (13.8). According to KenPom.com, the Tribe ranks among the national
leaders in a number of offensive categories as well. W&M is 36th
nationally, as of Nov. 21, according to the Web site in effective field goal
percentage (56.6 percent), which is the same as field goal percentage but gives
teams more credit for 3-pointers made. W&M was 18th in 2-point field goal
percentage (56.6) as well.
Bounce-Back Britt
After struggling during his sophomore campaign,
Brandon Britt spent countless hours in the gym during the offseason and is poised for a
bounce-back year in 2012-13. The Chesapeake, Va., native has enjoyed a stellar
start to the 2012-13 season. Through four games, Britt ranks fourth in the CAA
at 17 points per game. The junior guard ranks among the top 10 in the CAA in
three other statistical categories, field goal percentage (3rd - .595), assists
per game (7th - 2.8) and steals (9th - 1.8). Britt registered his 600th career
point against Hampton with 17 points in the season opener and tops the current
Tribe roster in career scoring with 659 points. In two of the last three games,
he led W&M in scoring with 21 points at Liberty and 17 against Miami (Ohio).
Gaillard Returns
The Tribe received a boost to its lineup for 2012-13 as
junior
Kyle Gaillard returned to the fold after missing last season due to a
leg injury. While he has been a force on the glass in each game this season,
the Huntersville, N.C., native is starting to find his form offensively.
Against Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 21, Gaillard scored 12 points, all in the second
half, on 4-of-7 from the field, including a perfect 1-of-1 from 3-point range
and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. In his first collegiate action in more
than a year, he led W&M with eight rebounds against Hampton. At Liberty, he
scored eight points and added four rebounds. Gaillard was exceptional
defensively in the win at High Point. He limited the Panthers' leading scorer
John Brown, who entered the game averaging 25 points and 7.5 rebounds per game,
to just seven points on 2-of-9 shooting and three rebounds. Gaillard added
seven rebounds and three assists against the Panthers. He currently ranks 15th
in the CAA at 6.0 rebounds per game.
